Business of the House

Will the Leader of the House look at early-day motion 1044, which records the concerns of right hon. and hon. Members about the decision of Guardian Media Group to cut its local press in the north-west? [That this House notes with regret and concern the decision by the Guardian Media Group to announce further job losses at the Manchester Evening News and within its weekly newspaper group; believes that the proposed cuts in editorial, advertising, distribution and information technology can only be damaging to the future prospects of the titles concerned; recognises that many people have worked extremely hard over the years to build these newspapers up; further believes that local newspapers have an absolutely central role at the heart of local communities; recognises an unwelcome trend to centralise their services and people; deplores the move to close down all of the individual weekly newspaper offices which currently serve the Greater Manchester conurbation; understands that this could be the first time in its proud history that the Manchester Evening News implements compulsory redundancies; upholds strongly the values of quality, independent journalism relevant to local communities; further believes that the founding fathers of the Guardian, particularly CP Scott, would be appalled and saddened by these developments; and calls on Guardian Media Group to rethink its proposals.] The motion is supported by the hon. Member for Stockport (Ann Coffey) and my hon. Friend the Member for Cheadle (Mark Hunter), with the Stockport Express a particular victim of the cuts. That newspaper will in future be produced not in Stockport, but in Manchester, and the journalist posts are to be halved. That is characteristic of the crisis in the local and regional media, which the hon. Member for Chorley (Mr. Hoyle) raised a moment ago. Can the Leader of the House find time for the House to discuss early-day motion 1044 and the serious matters with which it deals? Will she take particular note that Guardian Media Group has instructed journalists on those papers not to publish reports of the redundancies in their own newspapers?